Bordering one of the longest rivers in the world, Arkansas’s newest state park is a life-changing trip for hiking and camping enthusiasts alike.

With more than 100-miles of trails, Mississippi River State Park is a hidden gem. For nearly a century, thousands of visitors have sought out the dramatic riverways, spellbinding wildlife, and delicate ecosystems on display along this 2,320-mile river. Discover an important part of American history, including early 16th-century exploration, transportation during the civil war and a massive boon to power during the 20th century while making unforgettable memories with family and friends.

Through a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service, Arkansas State Parks is developing Mississippi River State Park within the St. Francis National Forest in eastern Arkansas. Arkansas’s newest state park, Mississippi River State Park, will eventually encompass 536 acres.

The Great River Road winds through Mississippi River State Park and the St. Francis National Forest. This national scenic byway follows the Mississippi River for nearly 3,000 miles from its headwaters in the north woods of Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico traveling through 10 states bordering the river. You can follow this road of discovery through diverse histories, cultures and landscapes.

Bear Creek Lake is accessible from Mississippi River State Park. This 625-acre lake was constructed atop Crowley’s Ridge in 1938. Lying within the northern end of the St. Francis National Forest, this USDA Forest Service lake has more than 15 miles or shoreline. Anglers enjoy the lake fishing for largemouth bass, bluegill, red-ear sunfish, and catfish. Wildlife watching opportunities include white-tail deer, squirrel, raccoon, rabbit, wild turkey, and a wide variety of other birds. Two national scenic byways, the Great River Road and the Crowley’s Ridge Parkway, pass over the lake’s dam.

Beaver Pond Swamp is a part of the natural diversity to experience in the St. Francis National Forest. See this natural setting near where the St. Francis River flows into the Mississippi River.

Beech Point Campground at Mississippi River State Park features 17 campsites on a peninsula in beautiful Bear Creek Lake. Each campsite offers a lake view. Two courtesy docks provide campers with additional access to the 625-acre lake.

Tent pads are featured on campsites offering full hookups in the Beech Point Campground at Mississippi River State Park. In addition, tent camping enthusiasts can choose from three Walk-in Tent Sites without hookups.

Bear Creek Lake is a peaceful setting to enjoy the seasonal beauty of Crowley’s Ridge. The unique hardwood forest atop Crowley’s Ridge is prime wildlife and birding habitat. The campsite rental fee is $32 per night. For details on the campground, visit: http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/news/for-media/display.aspx?id=1593. Nearby are a swim beach, hiking trail, fishing pier, boat ramp, and several picnic areas.

Escape the summer heat while exploring these breathtaking natural swimming holes and waterfalls in the Ozarks.

Buffalo Point River

KINGSTON, ARKANSAS

Established in 1972, Buffalo National River flows freely for 135 miles and is one of the few remaining undammed rivers in the lower 48 states. It is America’s First National River. This breathtaking swimming destination lies within the Ozark Mountains, surrounded by ancient rock bluffs and lush forest.

Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park

REYNOLDS COUNTY, MISSOURI

The wilderness qualities and geology of Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park and the surrounding St. Francois Mountains make this park a special place to visit. Its rugged character provides the perfect backdrop for camping, hiking, picnicking, splashing in the shut-ins, exploring nature or just relaxing.

Rocky Falls

WINONA, MISSOURI

Hidden in the forest, this gorgeous lesser-known swimming hole is a perfect summer destination. It has a beautiful waterfall and many other utilities including a walking trail, bathrooms, picnic tables, and fire grills.

Fugitive Beach

ROLLA, MISSOURI

Carved into the cliffs of a rock quarry, Fugitive Beach is a unique and popular swimming destination for locals and travelers alike.

This hidden oasis offers a variety of summer activities for all ages including a 60 foot water slide, cliff jumps, sand volleyball, a play area for children, pavilion rentals, changing rooms, and a beach bar and grill.

Kings River Falls Natural Area

MADISON COUNTY, ARKANSAS

Located in the Boston Mountains, Kings River Falls Trail is an scenic hike along the banks of the Kings River, eventually leading to a beautiful waterfall.

Long Pool Recreation Area

DOVER, ARKANSAS

Long Pool Recreation Area lies along beautiful Big Piney Creek and offers visitors a variety of recreational opportunities: camping, picnicking, swimming, canoeing, fishing and hiking. A large natural pool, steep rock bluffs, and captivating forests are just a few examples of the natural beauty surrounding this recreation area.

Petit Jean State Park

KINGSTON, ARKANSAS

Petit Jean State Park is an Arkansas icon, a state natural and historic treasure that features the beauty and ancient geology of the surrounding mountains. Explore a variety of breathtaking scenery, including Cedar Creek Falls, a 95 foot waterfall in the forest, and “Blue Hole”, a popular swimming destination.

Discover a plethora of breathtaking locations and unforgettable experiences throughout Arkansas while exploring these state parks.

Queen Wilhelmina State Park

MENA, ARKANSAS

A spectacular mountaintop setting. Breathtaking panoramic mountain scenery. Royal hospitality. Queen Wilhelmina State Park is this, and more. The park’s crowning attraction is its renowned hostelry, a historic lodging tradition born in 1898 with the original “Castle in the Sky” resort that graced this same lofty locale high above the Ouachita Mountains over 100 years ago.

Lake Ouachita State Park

MOUNTAIN PINE, ARKANSAS

Surrounded by the Ouachita National Forest, Lake Ouachita is known for its scenic natural beauty and the clarity of its waters. These pristine waters form the largest manmade lake within Arkansas’s borders. Named one of the cleanest lakes in America, 40,000-acre Lake Ouachita is a water sports mecca for swimming, skiing, scuba diving, boating, and fishing. Angling for bream, crappie, catfish, stripers, and largemouth bass can be enjoyed in open waters or quiet coves along the lake’s 975 miles of shoreline.

Located just a short drive from the spa city of Hot Springs on the lake’s eastern shore, Lake Ouachita State Park is your gateway to this popular water sports lake.

Petit Jean State Park

MORRILTON, ARKANSAS

Petit Jean State Park is an Arkansas icon, a state natural and historic treasure that has welcomed travelers over the decades. The natural beauty and ancient geology of legendary Petit Jean Mountain inspired the creation of Arkansas’s first state park, and with it our state park system.

Hiking trails lead through forests, canyons, meadows, and along streams and mountainside. See where nature over time formed sheer bluffs, Cedar Falls, and the Seven Hollows, such distinctive features as Bear Cave, the Grotto, and the Natural Bridge, and other formations sculpted geometrically by nature called Turtle Rocks and Carpet Rocks.

The park is a place to enjoy hiking, sightseeing, exploring the mountain and nature study. It’s also a destination for outdoor sports and extreme adventure enthusiasts that offers rock climbing, rappelling, hang gliding, mountain biking, horseback riding, backpacking, and ATV adventure. An ATV guide service is available.

Mount Magazine is the state park system’s most dramatic location for technical rock climbing. The park also offers overlooks, hiking trails, a picnic area with restrooms, pavilion, and visitor center with an interactive exhibit gallery and gift shop. Park interpreters lead a variety of programs that highlight the mountain’s natural diversity and unique species.

DeGray Lake Resort State Park

BISMARCK, ARKANSAS

DeGray Lake Resort State Park is Arkansas’s only resort state park. Located near Bismarck, Arkansas, in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains and nestled along the north shore of 13,800-acre DeGray Lake, one of the region’s five Diamond Lakes known for their crystal clear waters, DeGray offers all the outdoor adventure and quality of an Arkansas State Park combined with resort class amenities at one of the finest lodges in the state. DeGray is a fishing and water sports paradise, a golf resort with an 18-hole championship golf course, the ideal camping spot, and one of the best parks for family vacations, getaways, reunions, weddings, business meetings and retreats.

Mount Nebo State Park

DARDANELLE, ARKANSAS

Surrounded by the natural beauty for which the Arkansas River Valley is known, Lake Dardanelle is a sprawling 34,300-acre reservoir on the Arkansas River. These two water resources combined here have put this area into the national spotlight as a major bass fishing tournament site. Lake Dardanelle State Park offers two areas on the lake: one park site is at Russellville, and the other is located at nearby Dardanelle. Both the Russellville (main park) and Dardanelle locations offer camping, launch ramps, standard pavilions, picnic sites, restrooms, and bathhouses with hot showers.

Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park

SCOTT, ARKANSAS

A National Historic Landmark, the Toltec Mounds site comprises one of the largest and most impressive archeological sites in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. Preserved here are Arkansas’s tallest American Indian mounds. Three mounds remain where 18 once stood surrounded by an earthen embankment eight to ten feet in height, a portion of which is still visible today. These ancient earthworks are the remains of the late-Woodland thru early-Mississippian Period ceremonial and governmental complex which was inhabited here from A.D. 650 to 1050. The park visitor center features exhibits including artifacts from the site, an A/V theater, and archeological research laboratory.

Crater of Diamonds State Park

MURFREESBORO, ARKANSAS

Crater of Diamonds offers park visitors a one-of-a-kind experience—the adventure of hunting for real diamonds. You’ll search over a 37 ½-acre plowed field that is the eroded surface of the world’s eighth largest diamond-bearing volcanic crater. If you find a diamond, it is yours to keep.Pinnacle Mountain is a day-use park dedicated to environmental education, outdoor recreation, and preservation. Located just west of Little Rock, this natural environment of 2,356 acres was set aside in 1977 as Arkansas’s first state park adjoining a major metropolitan area.

Diamonds come in all colors of the rainbow. The three colors found here at the park are white, brown, and yellow, in that order. Park staff at the Diamond Discovery Center provide free identification and certification of diamonds found here. Amethyst, garnet, jasper, agate, quartz, and more rocks and minerals may also be found at the Crater of Diamonds, making the park a rock hound’s paradise.

Here is a Silver Moon Diamond found in Crater of Diamonds State Park following its cutting into this 1.06-carat pear-shape gem. Once cut, the diamond was appraised at $21,639. In its rough form at 2.44 carats, the diamond was a triangular-shape. On average, a diamond will lose approximately 40 to 60 percent of its rough weight when cut.

From serene mountain trails, to medieval castles, explore these dreamy locations hidden throughout the Ozarks.

T.R. Pugh Memorial Park

T. R. Pugh Memorial Park (or The Old Mill) is a re-creation of an 1880’s era water-powered grist mill located north of Little Rock, Arkansas.

The “Old Mill” was shown in the opening musical credits to the film “Gone With the Wind”, and is believed to the be the oldest structure that was shown in the film to still be standing. In 2010 the park was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Whitaker Point

NORTHERN ARKANSAS

Radiant with wildflowers and a waterfall in the spring, and then graced with the crimson and amber foliage of turning maple leaves in the fall, this trail winds through some of the most beautiful scenery in the state.

This region was also featured in the opening scenes of the Disney film Tuck Everlasting.

Big Bluff/Goat Trail

BUFFALO WILDERNESS AREA

Breathtaking river bluffs combined with a world-class geologic experience makes this trail unique. This area also features the tallest sheer bluff face found between the Rocky and Appalachian mountains.

The trail’s destination is the Big Bluff overlooking the Buffalo River. It is considered the tallest along the Buffalo, over 500 ft. tall. The side trail that leads to an outcropping on the bluff is called the Goat Trail, which is about 350 ft tall. It is not for children, the weak, or those afraid of heights.

The Arkansas Grand Canyon

JASPER, ARKANSAS

Actually a collapsed cave, the Grand Canyon of the Ozarks is a wide-valley carved by the Buffalo River. It’s located along gorgeous Scenic Byway 7 and is only a few miles from the town of Jasper. Along Scenic Byway 7 you’ll find places to pull off the road and gaze out at the vast Big Creek Valley. There’s also a lookout tower and spots where you can book a stay. From the overlook, look 130-feet down the sheer rock walls and take in the views of the surrounding forest and Boston Mountains. Get a closer look via the 119 steps that bring you down 70 feet — just make sure you have the energy to climb back up.

If you enjoy horseback riding, you’re in luck. The park offers a 24 horse stable and guests can reserve a horse to ride through the park.

The walls of the jagged ravines frame a dramatic valley bursting with hardwoods, evergreens and of course, the park’s namesake – Dogwoods, which are especially spectacular in the spring. The streams hold record trout, and the high meadows that reach into Arkansas provide pasture for small resident herds of long-horned cattle, American bison and elk.

Step into the park’s treehouse which was featured on the Animal Planet TV show, “Treehouse Masters.”

The treehouse is home to the education center, where visitors can learn about the importance of protecting, conserving and preserving the great outdoors.

One of Dogwood Canyon’s greatest appeals is the sparkling, spring-fed water that is home to our magnificent rainbow trout. There is no place better suited to introduce a young person to fishing than the streams of Dogwood Canyon.

Taum Sauk Mountain

IRONTON, MISSOURI

This flat-ridged mountain is supposedly named after Piankeshaw chief Sauk-Ton-Qua and his tragic tale.

Sauk-Ton-Qua’s daughter, Mina Sauk, fell in love with a warrior from a hostile tribe. When the chief killed his daughter’s lover by throwing him off of a nearby cliff, Mina followed him over the edge. This incurred the wrath of the mythical Storm King, summoning a hurricane to wipe out Sauk-Ton-Qua’s entire tribe. A lightning bolt struck the ground and caused a waterfall to appear, wiping away the blood of the lovers.

The Ozarks region is full of vertical reliefs and jagged mountains, a good portion of the terrain caused by sedimentary strata erosion. The St. Francois ridge, which Taum Sauk Mountain is a part of, is much, much older than the surrounding Appalachians. While much of the United States started out underneath the waters of ancient seas, Taum Sauk may be one of the very few peaks which would have jutted from the Paleozoic waters as an island.

The mountain’s peak, which is also the highest point in Missouri is marked by a granite plaque from the Missouri Association of Registered Land Surveyors.

Ha Ha Tonka Castle Ruins

Imposing architecture and breathtaking scenery combine to make Ha Ha Tonka State Park one of Missouri’s most treasured spots.

Located on the Lake of the Ozarks, the park features the stone ruins of a castle.

REMINISCENCES OF A DREAM

The ruins of a man’s manor appear to belong to a bygone fairytale kingdom, but are really the remains of grief and despair.

Wealthy Kansas City businessman Robert Snyder had a dream to construct a European-styled castle right in his beloved Missouri. To this end Snyder purchased 5,000 acres of land, including his very own lake, and began work on the evocative mansion in 1905. The businessman even imported stone masons from Europe to achieve the correct style, but unfortunately Snyder would not live to see his dream house to completion.

In 1906, Snyder was killed in one of Missouri’s first car accidents; however, Snyder’s dream castle would not die with him. After his death, Snyder’s sons continued work on the building and were able to complete the castle. After completing construction, one of his sons took up residence in the huge castle until the family’s money ran out due to land rights lawsuits surrounding the castle’s property.

In 1942, the entire building was utterly destroyed by a fire.

The state purchased the property in the 1970’s and has worked to preserve the crumbled walls of Snyder’s dream home as a feature in their state park.